1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the continuous spooling or winding of a tape in a spiral fashion onto an elongated body, such as, a pipe or wire.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The spiral winding of various types of tape material, such as, insulators and the like, about elongated bodies, such as, tubes, pipes, electrical wires, etc., is widely used in industry. Typically, for example, insulating material in the form of a tape is spooled onto wires for electrical transformers, cables in order to insulate the cables, as well as for the thermal insulation of pipes used in heating.
One of the major disadvantages of the processes currently used for this type of spooling or winding is that the processes are relatively slow and it has been proven difficult to increase the speeds of the presently known processes. Attempts to increase the spooling speeds have resulted in breaking or tearing of the tape and consequently, the industry has encountered a limit in its ability to increase the spooling capacity. Typically, for example, with such processes, only about 800 or so rounds per minute can generally be accomplished.
Also, of course, depending on the outer peripheral shape of the body on which the tape is to be wound, difficulties arise because of variations in the tape tension which, in turn, results in tearing and breaking of the tape.